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USL1 United Soccer League One

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
October 9, 2023 - United Soccer League One (USL1)


BASEBALL

Arizona Fall League: Major League Baseball's AFL started its 2023 season this week with the same six teams as last season and each playing a 30-game schedule through November 9, 2023. The AFL utilizes MLB spring training facilities and each team consists of prospects from 5 different MLB teams: Glendale Desert Dogs (Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, Twins, White Sox), Mesa Solar Sox (Astros, Athletics, Cubs, Orioles, Yankees), Peoria Javelinas (Guardians, Mariners, Marlins, Padres, Rays), Salt River Rafters (Braves, Diamondbacks, Pirates, Rockies, Tigers), Scottsdale Scorpions (Angels, Cardinals, Giants, Phillies, Nationals), and Surprise Saguaros (Blue Jays, Brewers, Rangers, Reds, Royals).

Coastal Plain League: The summer-collegiate CPL announced an expansion team in Greenville (NC) will be added for the 2024 season and a name-the-team contest is underway.

BASKETBALL

The Basketball League: The semi-pro TBL announced a new team called the Los Angeles Ignite has been added for the 2024 season. A Phoenix-based team called the Arizona HEET (Helping Encourage Experience Together) stated it will start play in the TBL's 2025 season.

Maximum Basketball League: The semi-pro MBL recently started its 2023-24 season with 33 teams aligned in 5 regional divisions. The MBL season runs through February 4, 2024.

Women's National Basketball Association: The National Basketball Association's Golden State Warriors have been awarded a WNBA franchise for the Bay Area and the team will start play in 2025 with home games to be played at the Warriors home arena (Chase Center) in San Francisco. The Bay Area will be the 13th team in the WNBA, which has had 12 teams since the 2010 season. The cities of Portland (OR), Toronto, Philadelphia, and Denver were mentioned as potential locations for a 14th team expected to be added for 2025. Toronto was considered one of the top candidates but this week the group representing the Toronto expansion effort pulled back its support for a WNBA expansion team. Portland is considered the frontrunner for the next WNBA expansion team.

FOOTBALL

Champions Indoor Football: Four of the five remaining teams from the now-defunct CIF have been absorbed by the new 2024 Arena Football League (AFL). This includes the 2023 CIF teams called the Rapid City (SD) Marshals, Southwest Kansas Storm (Dodge City) and Salina (KS) Liberty along with the Wichita ICT Regulators (Park Hills, KS), which was announced as a 2024 CIF expansion team. Four other 2023 CIF teams had previously left for other leagues: the Billings Outlaws to the AFL and the Omaha Beef, Sioux City (IA) Bandits, and Topeka Tropics to the National Arenal League. One other 2023 CIF team called the Gillette (WY) Mustangs was put up for sale and its future is uncertain.

Arena Football League: In addition to adding four teams (Rapid City Marshals, Southwest Kansas Storm, Salina Liberty, and Wichita ICT Regulators) from the Champions Indoor Football league this week, the new 2024 version of the AFL also announced new teams called the Albany (NY) Firebirds and the Iowa Rampage (Council Bluffs) have joined the league for 2024. A team called the Albany Firebirds played 11 seasons (1990-2000) in the original version of the AFL. The AFL stated the league will have 20 teams aligned in 4 regional divisions when it starts play in April 2024.

American Arena League 2: The AAL2 announced teams called the Waco Tornadoes and the Peach State Cats (Suwanee, GA) have been added for the 2024 season. The Waco Tornadoes were affiliated with the 8-on-8 Texas-based The Arena League earlier this year, while the Peach State Cats were affiliated with Elite Indoor Football before switching to an independent schedule earlier this year. Waco joins a new AAL2 Texas Division that includes the Dallas Falcons, Texas Hotshots (Dallas area), and the West Texas Warriors (El Paso). The AAL2's team list also includes the Delaware Bullsharks (Wilmington) expansion team and the Carolina Predators, which were affiliated with the 2023 American Indoor Football Alliance.

American Indoor Football: The AIF announced the Mississippi Raiders team, which was based in Tunica last season as a member of the American Indoor Football Alliance, has joined for the league's rebirth in 2024. The AIF's previously announced River City Rage (Council Bluffs, IA) team is moving to Coralville (IA) and it will push back its start in the league until the 2025 season.

Indoor Football League: The IFL's Bay Area Panthers announced the team will remain in San Jose for the 2024 season. This summer the team's ownership was looking at options other than San Jose as its home with the cities of Oakland, Sacramento, and Stockton reported to be under consideration.

HOCKEY

Union Hockey League: The proposed new Senior-A semi-pro UHL, which was originally called the North Eastern Hockey League, has added four more teams to the original eight teams previously announced for the 2023-24 season. The Eastern Division increases to six teams with the addition of the Canon (MA) Mallards and Mid-Atlantic Fury (East Rutherford, NJ), while the Western Division increases to six teams with the addition of the Soo Nordiques (Sault Ste. Marie, MI) and the Sun Prairie (WI) Killer Bees. The UHL's season is supposed to start next month.

Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey: The Quebec-based minor professional LNAH, or North American Hockey League, started its 2023-24 season this week with only six of the seven teams from last season. The Bâtisseurs de Montcalm, a 2022-23 expansion team, could not find new investors for a second season and the league dissolved the franchise. Each LNAH team will play 36 games through March 16, 2024.

National Junior Hockey League: The new Canadian junior-level NJHL, which was created from teams that comprised the West Division of last season's junior-level Greater Metro Hockey League (GMHL), started its inaugural 2023-24 season this weekend with all teams based in the province of Alberta. Teams called the Edson Eagles, High Plains Red Wings, Fox Creek Ice Kings, and Gibbons Pioneers came over from the GMHL. A fifth team called the Northern Alberta Lightning, which was to be based in the town of Viking, was previously announced as an expansion team for the Canadian American Junior Hockey League (CAJHL) but switched to the NJHL and is reported to be based in the town of Mayerthorpe (Alberta). The NJHL recently announced the Alberta-based Vulcan Rampage, which was also a previously announced CAJHL expansion team, has switched to the NJHL but the team has yet to appear on the 2023-24 schedule. A 2022-23 GMHL team called the Northern Alberta Tomahawks (Enoch) changed to the Northern Alberta Crush and was announced as a 2023-24 NJHL team. The Crush tried to move to Onoway (Alberta) and ended up in Thorsby (Alberta) as the Thorsby Crush but then disappeared from the NJHL.

SOCCER

Major League Indoor Soccer: The men's MLIS announced the addition of two new teams called the Ohio Extreme (Lima) and the Colorado Bucks (Denver area) for the 2023-24 season. The MLIS operated with 12 teams last season but teams called the Houston Bolt, Detroit Waza, Springfield (MO) Demize, Cincinnati Swerve, Illinois State Line Falcons (Rockford), Austin Emerald, and Wichita Selection are no longer listed as part of the league. Several of these teams have moved to the Premier Arena Soccer League, which is starting a new Pro Division for the 2023-24 season.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The men's Division-III professional USL League One announced the addition of a team in Lancaster (CA) starting with the 2025 season. A group known as USL Antelope Valley plans to convert the city's 5,300-seat baseball stadium, which was used by the Lancaster Sound Breakers during the 2023 season of the independent Pecos League, to a soccer-specific stadium. The team will announce its official name in March 2024.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The group called USL Arkansas, which plans to start a men's team in the Division-II USL Championship league and a women's team in the new Division-I USL Super League, revealed plans for a new privately funded 5,000-seat soccer stadium to be built in Rogers (AR). No construction timeline was provided but both teams are expected to start play in 2026. The teams would represent Northwest Arkansas, which includes Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, and Springdale.

OTHER

Arena Lacrosse League: Canada's ALL, whose men's league serves as a minor league to the National Lacrosse League, announced some changes to its women's division, also known as the Women's Arena Lacrosse League (WALL), for the 2023-24 season. The WALL East Division, which plays all games at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena in Ontario, will expand from four to five teams and all four teams (66erz, RiverWolves, Bears, and Snipers) from last season have been renamed. The five WALL East Division teams will become the Cobras, Sirens, Firebirds, Skyhawks, and Blazers for 2023-24. The WALL West Division, which consists of six teams playing out of the Langley Field House in British Columbia, will remain the same. The men's ALL East Division will again have eight teams playing games at five different venues across Ontario and the men's ALL West Division will again have four teams playing all games at the Langley Field House.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report, which has been tracking the changes in the sports world's leagues, teams, and nicknames since April 2007.

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